Meet terry jordy of the independent community bankers of america
Tell us about yourself and your organization.
I was born and raised in larger cities like Chicago and Minneapolis, however after graduating from college with a Finance degree I married my husband Mike and we moved back to his hometown of Cando, North Dakota so that he could take over his family’s seed potato farm. Cando is a small town of only 1,300 people so at first the culture shock was severe, but over time I have found that there are great rewards in living in rural America. I started as a teller with CountryBank USA and moved through the ranks, becoming President and CEO of the bank at the age of 32. I am very passionate about the role that community banks play in our communities. Without the bank, the community would not survive and without the community, the bank would not survive. I have devoted most of my career to political advocacy for community banks becoming involved in trade association work at both the state and national level. I served as President of the Independent Community Banks of North Dakota and am currently serving as the Chairman of the Independent Community Bankers of America, the only national association focused exclusively on the interests of community banks. We have nearly 5,000 members nationwide. I have been honored to be the first woman elected to these positions.
How did you and your organization get introduced to Rapport Leadership International?
In February, 2005 our bank bought an insurance agency and the owner of the agency, Dave Oehlke came on board with us as an employee. Unbeknownst to me, he had already signed up for Leadership Breakthrough One and when he came back from his weekend at Rapport he settled into a chair in my office and started expounding upon his experience. I had only known Dave for a few months, but he was very convincing and in fact he wouldn’t go away! He told me that I just had to go and that I would not regret it. I remember asking him if this was some kind of pyramid scheme or perhaps Amway! But he assured me that it was legitimate and before I knew it I was signed up.
How many Rapport graduates does your organization have?
Our bank has 28 employees and 10 of us have been through Leadership Breakthrough One. Dave is now a master grad. We sent every exempt employee through the program. It was a major financial commitment for our small organization, but we have definitely felt that it was worth every penny. I have also nominated so many other people outside of our organization that I have lost count. In retrospect, I wish that I had bought stock in a backpack company – or perhaps Hallmark. I nominated the President and CEO of the Independent Community Bankers of America and the entire ICBA senior and mid-level staff subsequently went through the program. Nearly every member of our association’s Executive Committee has also been through Leadership Breakthrough One and most of them sent family members and employees. My son has been through Leadership Breakthrough One (18-22) and two individuals in my community are signed up to go next month. I have been able to relive the experience over and over again as I write on their cards and experience their enthusiasm when they come back from Rapport.
Tell us about your Rapport experience?
My personal Rapport experience was amazing. Ms. Fonseca was my Trainer and I didn’t realize it at the time, but she was being tested during my training as she was working toward attaining her leader certification. As you might imagine, she was at the top of her game and at graduation she was presented with a REAL samurai sword. The people on my team were awesome and I learned how precious each human being is.
How has Rapport impacted you personally?
My experience helped me grow immensely and there’s hardly a day that goes by that I don’t think of something that connects me to Rapport. I have all but taken the word “try” out of my vocabulary! I have learned how important it is to be pushed outside of my comfort zone in order to grow. Ten days after I graduated from Leadership Breakthrough One, my husband Mike entered the program. I flew out to Las Vegas for his graduation and we celebrated our 25th wedding anniversary that weekend. Although we have always had a wonderful relationship and marriage, it helped both of us focus on the things that are really important to us in our lives.
How has Rapport impacted your business?
Rapport’s philosophy is, “If you improve the person you improve the performance. If you improve the performance, the business improves, the family improves, the community improves.” The reason I sent so many people from our organization through Leadership Breakthrough One is because I felt that I owed it to them. I wanted to give them the same gift that I felt had been given to me and that was to improve me and my outlook on life. My staff spends 80% of their waking hours working for our organization, while at the same time dealing with all of the personal issues that complicate all of our lives. I felt that it was the least I could do.
What is the most surprising benefit you or your organization received from Rapport Training?
I didn’t have any expectations for a sea change in performance because I already had wonderful, talented employees. Everyone processed the experience differently and it took longer for some to recognize the benefits than others. And the people that I thought would be the most resistant to the experience were in fact the ones that got the most out of it. I do believe that it was a very personal experience for everyone who attended. One woman came back and decided after living for 50 years with crooked teeth that she was going to get braces. One of our employees ran for the State Senate and won. Another employee admitted that prior to Rapport he had been counting the days until retirement, even though there were years before he would reach retirement age, and now believed that he had much more to give before he was done. Another employee recognized how important diversity is in our culture and how easy he had judged others based upon their lifestyle without really knowing them. Another employee became the second woman in our state to become President of our state banking association and truly found leadership qualities that she didn’t know she had.
How do you keep Rapport alive in your organization?
This is our biggest challenge, but our most important challenge because it’s easy to slip back into old habits. A big part of what we learned in Rapport was that it is important to take time to have fun and to trust and respect each other. We sponsored FISH training for all of our staff this past year to bring everyone into the groove. Our master grad, Dave Oehlke, is king fun-maker around our bank and has a tendency to pop into the conference room when we have bank examiners with his artificial red nose and ask them why they look so glum. Yesterday, when the temperature hit 33 degrees below zero, we went outside and threw our coffee cups full of boiling water into the air to find out if it’s really true that the water will vaporize before it hits the ground – it is true!
When you face a challenge in your organization, what tools from the training do you call on first?
There were many blocks that I could have thrust my fist through at Rapport training, but the one that I settled on was “Control vs. Empowerment.” I am now very conscious of the value that each one of my employees brings to our organization and have worked very hard to bring out their thoughts and ideas while at the same time allowing them to take on responsibility. They don’t always want the responsibility, but if I don’t give them the opportunity to be outside of their own comfort zones, they won’t grow and neither will our organization.
